Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Share your 7.62x39mm hunting stories?

Not yet. Hope to soon.

Going to keep a eye on this thread, have myself a lefty x39

I bought a Ruger American Ranch rifle in 7.62 commie back in 2018. One small doe, one hog. I load a 125 grain Sierera Pro Hunter over 4198 powder. I believe I really prefer the .30/30.

I know a guy who shot a groundhog with an SKS once. Does that count?

Deer seem to be really scarce when I have my CZ in hand but, have taken several armadillos and coyotes while in the woods. Only have one pic from a few years ago.

Why do people shoot armadillos?

Good luck, Obi Wan!

Mannlicher, do you find the 30-30 gives you more decisive results, or?

Gnoahhh, believe it does haha

They are invasive here. They tear up a lot of ground. Rumor has it they will destroy turkey nests, etc. and we don’t have an Turkeys or quail left. That’s why people here shoot them.

Got ya, especially if they're invasive. Figured its likely control of some sort but I couldn't imagine how so!

I'm pretty far north, mind. Never even saw one before.

Well, here's what the ammo looks like at least.

Threw the .308 sizing stem into a Lee FL die and did one up. 120gr Tac TX on top of 27.5 grains of CFE BLK. Over the Christmas break I'll shoot some for groups and adjust from there.

Hornady's calculator is showing if I can get 2430 fps at the muzzle, they should still be doing 2198 at 100 yards for 1287 ft/lbs. From what I see on Youtube, these open just fine at 2000 fps from a 300 BLK so at 200 yards, 1979 fps and 1044 ft/lbs. Think it'll be fine as long as its in the vitals!

I've only killed two deer with my CZ, this buck and a doe. The buck ran about 60 yards, the doe dropped in her tracks. On both I used Lapua 123gr SP and as you can see, those bullets perform beautifully.

Nice SCGunNut!! I have a CZ527 Carbine and a Zastava M85 mini-Mauser. Have killed a few deer and a big gobbler in PA with them. Used Federal blue box 123 grain bullets (both will consistently keep 3-shots around 1/2-3/4” at 100yards with this ammo). They killed them as you would expect the deer were around 100 yards and the turkey near 200 yards…..I really like them for how the handle and carry if I’m still-hunting.

PennDog

Great hunting and thanks for sharing!

"The buck ran about 60 yards" sounds like the ones I've hit low shoulder/ribs with a 308 or 30-06.

Great looking bullet there too

Where does one find Lapua soft points, all I ever find is FMJ but, they do shoot good. What I've killed with my CZ has been with a 165 gr. cast FN bullet at a little over 1900 fps.

Don't think they import them anymore. Haven't seen them listed in several years. I got them from Grafs back in the day. They came 30 to a box. I've got about 20 rounds left. I only fire a round ever so often to confirm zero and plink with the surplus stuff. I'm sure the CZ will shoot any SP just fine when the time comes to switch.

Had an AK for a while and now a Ruger American. It's mainly a hog gun for me and I've settled on Tula 154gr. soft points. So far they've given good results even on big hogs.

The few Tula 123gr. Soft points I've used didn't seem to expand all that well. The 154gr. Load may not expand any better, I may have just not noticed yet. Haven't tried them on deer yet.

I killed a spike with a PPU 123gr. Round nose Soft point. Hole in and hole out with no blood trail to speak of. Again, expansion seemed to be an issue.

Alternatively, Hornady 123gr. SST's seemed a little on the fragile side for hogs. But that would be my first choice for deer or defense in this caliber.

Hmmm...wonder how a handload with a 150gr bullet designed for the 30-30 would do? Not that far outside the design envelope, especially since some people shoot 18 or even 16 inch guns.

Hornady makes the 123gr Interlock too. Wonder if its a bit more stout than the SST, for the piggies?

Between the "hole in and hole out" was there nothing but a 30 cal hole tunneling through your deer, or did it do more damage than that along the way?

Depends on if the rifle will shoot .308 caliber bullets I know their are some that are .310 that might not work. Best is to try it and see?

I shot several different 308 bullets (including 30-30 bullets) along with several different 310 and 311 bullets through my two CZ 527s and AR Colt upper. They all shot great! Naturally, the rifles had their favorites, but I never found a single one that didn't shoot well enough to hunt with.

That is a sweet looking rig. You don't see those Bushnell Banner Compact scopes very often either. Very underrated scopes.